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About Art Students League of New York on Painting

A lushly illustrated, comprehensive guide to painting in all media from the prestigious visual arts education institution Art Students League of New York.

The Art Students League of New York is America’s signature art school, run by artists for artists. Founded in 1875, it has nurtured students like Jackson Pollock and Georgia O’Keefe. Today, more than 2,500 students of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels study there each month.

This unique book brings you into the studio classrooms of some of the League’s most celebrated painters—including William Scharf, Mary Beth McKenzie, Henry Finkelstein, and Knox Martin—for lessons on a variety of fundamental topics, idiosyncratic approaches, and quirky philosophies. Scanning the table of contents is like flipping through a course catalog: do you want to take Naomi Campbell’s “Working Large in Watercolor,” James McElhinney’s “Journal Painting and Composition,” Sharon Sprung’s “Figure Painting from Life in Oil,” or Ellen Eagle’s “Poetic Realism in Pastel”? Now you can—from the comfort of your own home studio (or living room).

Richly illustrated with artwork from the League’s considerable archives, its instructors, and its students, this guide will inspire painters across all mediums, subjects, and styles.

About Art Students League of New York on Painting

A New York Times Gift Pick: Coffee Table Books About New York

A lushly illustrated, comprehensive guide to painting in all media from the prestigious visual arts education institution Art Students League of New York.

The Art Students League of New York is America’s signature art school, run by artists for artists. Founded in 1875, it has nurtured students like Jackson Pollock and Georgia O’Keefe. Today, more than 2,500 students of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels study there each month.

This unique book brings you into the studio classrooms of some of the League’s most celebrated painters—including William Scharf, Mary Beth McKenzie, Henry Finkelstein, and Knox Martin—for lessons on a variety of fundamental topics, idiosyncratic approaches, and quirky philosophies. Scanning the table of contents is like flipping through a course catalog: do you want to take Naomi Campbell’s “Working Large in Watercolor,” James McElhinney’s “Journal Painting and Composition,” Sharon Sprung’s “Figure Painting from Life in Oil,” or Ellen Eagle’s “Poetic Realism in Pastel”? Now you can—from the comfort of your own home studio (or living room).

Richly illustrated with artwork from the League’s considerable archives, its instructors, and its students, this guide will inspire painters across all mediums, subjects, and styles.

About James L. McElhinney

JAMES L. MCELHINNEY has a BFA from Tyler School of Art and an MFA in painting from Yale University. His teaching career began as an assistant to Bernard Chaet at Yale, followed by appointments at Bowdoin College, Moore College of… More about James L. McElhinney

About James L. McElhinney

JAMES L. MCELHINNEY has a BFA from Tyler School of Art and an MFA in painting from Yale University. His teaching career began as an assistant to Bernard Chaet at Yale, followed by appointments at Bowdoin College, Moore College of… More about James L. McElhinney

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Praise

A New York Times Gift Pick: Coffee Table Books About New York

“The League’s diverse instructors are among the world’s best, so I’m grateful that James McElhinney has brought readers along to gain their insight. The art is both apt and luscious, and it’s especially fascinating to consider the work of top pupils alongside their teachers.” —Peter Trippi, editor-in-chief of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine

“The diminishing returns of a media-saturated culture have produced a remarkable visual illiteracy in our time. The antidote is a hands-on engagement that works toward the mastery of seeing what you are looking at and discovering a personal attitude toward what you are seeing. The final result is a record of what it means to be in this world. This book is a doorway opening to that journey.” —Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency and The Geography of Nowhere“This informative and lavishly illustrated volume, with its step-by-step demonstrations, personal histories, and interviews, provides readers with privileged access to the distinct philosophies and painting practices of artists, illuminating their alchemical transformations of raw materials—of charcoal and pigments and oils—into unique and inspiring expressions ofhuman values.”—Adrienne Baxter Bell, associate professor of art history at Marymount Manhattan College and author of George Inness and the Visionary Landscape

“Richly illustrated, this thoroughly modern painting guide invites painters working in every medium, style, and subject matter to pull up an easel or open a sketchbook to explore new and different ways to think about painting.”—Charles C. Bergman, chairman and CEO, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation

“Art Students League of New York on Painting is such a gift: it provides information on techniques, philosophies of art, and the art of seeing. You should treat yourself to this book.”—Audrey Flack, painter, sculptor, and former Art Students League student